New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum has attacked Australian counterpart Steve Smith for how he dealt with the Ben Stokes controversy, saying the young captain “showed his immaturity”.

“It’s probably too early in Steve Smith’s captaincy career to appreciate this but one day he’ll look back at the Ben Stokes dismissal at Lord’s on Saturday and realise he missed a great opportunity to strike a blow for the spirit of cricket,” McCullum wrote in his column for the Daily Mail.


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“It was disappointing that Smith had a chance to make a statement about the way he wants his side to play the game and chose to go the other way …

“By not withdrawing the appeal, Smith showed his immaturity. He may live to regret it.”

Stokes was adjudged obstructing the field when he deflected the ball away from the stumps with his hand after Mitchell Starc tried to run him out in the second ODI at Lord’s on Saturday.

McCullum’s attack comes less than two months before Australia host New Zealand in the first Test of the summer at the Gabba on November 5.

– with AAP